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Ellina Mhlanga
Sports Reporter
THE National Athletics Association of Zimbabwe say their efforts to turn around the sport in the country are paying dividends after they received office equipment through an Olympic Solidarity programme.
The equipment was bought for NAAZ through the sport organisation strategic plan, an Olympic Solidarity programme, from October to December last year.
The local athletics motherbody received laptops, chairs, tables and a printer.
NAAZ president Tendai Tagara paid tribute to the Zimbabwe Olympic Committee for their support.
“We are happy for the support from the Zimbabwe Olympic Committee and Olympic Solidarity.
“We applied to Olympic Solidarity and we were given (the support) as a sport with potential to grow.
“The programme started in October to December in Harare where a number of workshops were held under the leadership of (Robert) Mutsauki.
“Athletics benefited as we are in the process of re-looking at management, development, Athletes Commission’s role, spectators, athletes, and sponsorship and partnerships.
“Had it not been for the COVID-19 outbreak we would have done more, ” said Tagara.
NAAZ have three offices, with the headquarters in Gweru, and the equipment will go a long way in complementing their efforts to be professional in their operations as an association.
“We want to have modern equipment in our offices to reflect growth.
“So, we agreed with the executive that we forego some of the travelling allowances so that we save to buy the equipment.
“We did not handle the funds. They were handled by ZOC to the last cent.
“We have three functional offices, Gweru office is the head office. We have an office at the White City Stadium and we pay rent to the Bulawayo City Council.
“We have an office at the National Sports Stadium for which we pay rent to the Ministry of Public Works.
“All the offices are manned by administrators,” said Tagara.
The association was scheduled to have a meeting at the end of this month to discuss their plans for the next six months and to start preparing their strategic plan.
Their immediate concern is qualification for the rescheduled 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, now set to take place next year.
“End of this month we will have our mid-year meeting where we will spell out plans for the next six months, the plans to start preparing the strategic plan for the next Olympic cycle.
“Events like the national championships that will be hosted by Bulawayo, preparations for qualifying for World Championships in 2022 and Olympics rescheduled for 2021,” said Tagara.
NAAZ are hoping they will have a couple of sprinters and long distance runners making the grade for the Games.
Some of the earmarked athletes are Tatenda Tsumba, Itayi Vambe, Rutendo Nyahora, Fortunate Chidzivo as well as triple jumper Chengetayi Mapaya.
The World Championships were initially scheduled for next year before they were pushed back to 2022.
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